Muhammad's Swordby Uri Avnery
23.9.06Since the days when Roman Emperors threw Christians to the lions, the relations between the emperors and the heads of the church have undergone many changes.
Constantine the Great, who became Emperor in the year 306 - exactly 1700 years ago - encouraged the practice of Christianity in the empire, which included Palestine. Centuries later, the church split into an Eastern (Orthodox) and a Western (Catholic) part. In the West, the Bishop of Rome, who acquired the title of Pope, demanded that the Emperor accept his superiority.
The struggle between the Emperors and the Popes played a central role in European history and divided the peoples. It knew ups and downs. Some Emperors dismissed or expelled a Pope, some Popes dismissed or excommunicated an Emperor. One of the Emperors, Henry IV, "walked to Canossa", standing for three days barefoot in the snow in front of the Pope's castle, until the Pope deigned to annul his excommunication.
But there were times when Emperors and Popes lived in peace with each other. We are witnessing such a period today. Between the present Pope, Benedict XVI, and the present Emperor, George Bush II, there exists a wonderful harmony. Last week's speech by the Pope, which aroused a world-wide storm, went well with Bush's crusade against "Islamofascism", in the context of the "Clash of Civilizations".
IN HIS lecture at a German university, the 265th Pope described what he sees as a huge difference between Christianity and Islam: while Christianity is based on reason, Islam denies it. While Christians see the logic of God's actions, Muslims deny that there is any such logic in the actions of Allah.
As a Jewish atheist, I do not intend to enter the fray of this debate. It is much beyond my humble abilities to understand the logic of the Pope. But I cannot overlook one passage, which concerns me too, as an Israeli living near the fault-line of this "war of civilizations".
In order to prove the lack of reason in Islam, the Pope asserts that the prophet Muhammad ordered his followers to spread their religion by the sword. According to the Pope, that is unreasonable, because faith is born of the soul, not of the body. How can the sword influence the soul?
To support his case, the Pope quoted - of all people - a Byzantine Emperor, who belonged, of course, to the competing Eastern Church. At the end of the 14th century, the Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus told of a debate he had - or so he said (its occurrence is in doubt) - with an unnamed Persian Muslim scholar. In the heat of the argument, the Emperor (according to himself) flung the following words at his adversary:
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".
These words give rise to three questions: (a) Why did the Emperor say them? (b) Are they true? (c) Why did the present Pope quote them?
WHEN MANUEL II wrote his treatise, he was the head of a dying empire. He assumed power in 1391, when only a few provinces of the once illustrious empire remained. These, too, were already under Turkish threat.
At that point in time, the Ottoman Turks had reached the banks of the Danube. They had conquered Bulgaria and the north of Greece, and had twice defeated relieving armies sent by Europe to save the Eastern Empire. On May 29, 1453, only a few years after Manuel's death, his capital, Constantinople (the present Istanbul) fell to the Turks, putting an end to the Empire that had lasted for more than a thousand years.
During his reign, Manuel made the rounds of the capitals of Europe in an attempt to drum up support. He promised to reunite the church. There is no doubt that he wrote his religious treatise in order to incite the Christian countries against the Turks and convince them to start a new crusade. The aim was practical, theology was serving politics.
In this sense, the quote serves exactly the requirements of the present Emperor, George Bush II. He, too, wants to unite the Christian world against the mainly Muslim "Axis of Evil". Moreover, the Turks are again knocking on the doors of Europe, this time peacefully. It is well known that the Pope supports the forces that object to the entry of Turkey into the European Union.
IS THERE any truth in Manuel's argument?
The pope himself threw in a word of caution. As a serious and renowned theologian, he could not afford to falsify written texts. Therefore, he admitted that the Qur'an specifically forbade the spreading of the faith by force. He quoted the second Sura, verse 256 (strangely fallible, for a pope, he meant verse 257) which says: "There must be no coercion in matters of faith".
How can one ignore such an unequivocal statement? The Pope simply argues that this commandment was laid down by the prophet when he was at the beginning of his career, still weak and powerless, but that later on he ordered the use of the sword in the service of the faith. Such an order does not exist in the Qur'an. True, Muhammad called for the use of the sword in his war against opposing tribes - Christian, Jewish and others - in Arabia, when he was building his
state. But that was a political act, not a religious one; basically a fight for territory, not for the spreading of the faith.
Jesus said: "You will recognize them by their fruits." The treatment of other religions by Islam must be judged by a simple test: How did the Muslim rulers behave for more than a thousand years, when they had the power to "spread the faith by the sword"?
Well, they just did not.
For many centuries, the Muslims ruled Greece. Did the Greeks become Muslims? Did anyone even try to Islamize them? On the contrary, Christian Greeks held the highest positions in the Ottoman administration. The Bulgarians, Serbs, Romanians, Hungarians and other European nations lived at one time or another under Ottoman rule and clung to their Christian faith. Nobody compelled them to become Muslims and all of them remained devoutly Christian.
True, the Albanians did convert to Islam, and so did the Bosniaks. But nobody argues that they did this under duress. They adopted Islam in order to become favorites of the government and enjoy the fruits.
In 1099, the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem and massacred its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants indiscriminately, in the name of the gentle Jesus. At that time, 400 years into the occupation of Palestine by the Muslims, Christians were still the majority in the country. Throughout this long period, no effort was made to impose Islam on them. Only after the expulsion of the Crusaders from the country, did the majority of the inhabitants start to adopt the Arabic language and the Muslim faith - and they were the forefathers of most of today's Palestinians.
THERE IS no evidence whatsoever of any attempt to impose Islam on the Jews. As is well known, under Muslim rule the Jews of Spain enjoyed a bloom the like of which the Jews did not enjoy anywhere else until almost our time. Poets like Yehuda Halevy wrote in Arabic, as did the great Maimonides. In Muslim Spain, Jews were ministers, poets, scientists. In Muslim Toledo, Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars worked together and translated the ancient Greek philosophical and scientific texts. That was, indeed, the Golden Age. How would this have been possible, had the Prophet decreed the "spreading of the faith by the sword"?
What happened afterwards is even more telling. When the Catholics re-conquered Spain from the Muslims, they instituted a reign of religious terror. The Jews and the Muslims were presented with a cruel choice: to become Christians, to be massacred or to leave. And where did the hundreds of thousand of Jews, who refused to abandon their faith, escape? Almost all of them were received with open arms in the Muslim countries. The Sephardi ("Spanish") Jews settled all over the Muslim world, from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east, from Bulgaria (then part of
the Ottoman Empire) in the north to Sudan in the south. Nowhere were they persecuted. They knew nothing like the tortures of the Inquisition, the flames of the auto-da-fe, the pogroms, the terrible mass-expulsions that took place in almost all Christian countries, up to the Holocaust.
WHY? Because Islam expressly prohibited any persecution of the "peoples of the book". In Islamic society, a special place was reserved for Jews and Christians. They did not enjoy completely equal rights, but almost. They had to pay a special poll-tax, but were exempted from military service - a trade-off that was quite welcome to many Jews. It has been said that Muslim rulers frowned upon any attempt to convert Jews to Islam even by gentle persuasion - because it entailed the loss of taxes.
Every honest Jew who knows the history of his people cannot but feel a deep sense of gratitude to Islam, which has protected the Jews for fifty generations, while the Christian world persecuted the Jews and tried many times "by the sword" to get them to abandon their faith.
THE STORY about "spreading the faith by the sword" is an evil legend, one of the myths that grew up in Europe during the great wars against the Muslims - the reconquista of Spain by the Christians, the Crusades and the repulsion of the Turks, who almost conquered Vienna. I suspect that the German Pope, too, honestly believes in these fables. That means that the leader of the Catholic world, who is a Christian theologian in his own right, did not make the effort to study
the history of other religions.
Why did he utter these words in public? And why now?
There is no escape from viewing them against the background of the new Crusade of Bush and his evangelist supporters, with his slogans of "Islamofascism" and the "Global War on Terrorism" - when "terrorism" has become a synonym for Muslims. For Bush's handlers, this is a cynical attempt to justify the domination of the world's oil resources. Not for the first time in history, a religious robe is spread to cover the nakedness of economic interests; not for the first time, a robbers' expedition becomes a Crusade.
The speech of the Pope blends into this effort. Who can foretell the dire consequences?

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Salam,
I'm trying to collect all the love songs I grew up listening to, here is a umble list. can you peeps add to it (those of my age at least).
Hello- Lionel Richie
Endless Love- Lionel Richie
Careless Whisper- George Michael
crazy- patsy cline
the winner takes it all- abba
Lady-Kenny Rogers
Making Love out of nothing at all- Air Supply
All out of love- Air Supply
Hotel calefornia- Eagles
Let's stay together- Al Green
Faithfully- Journey
Open Arms- Journey
Feelings- Morris Albert
I drove all night to get to you- Cyndi Lauper
I just want to be your everything- Andy gibb
First time I ever saw your face- Roberta Flack
I Want To Know What Love Is - Foreigner
How Deep Is Your Love - The Bee Gees
Total Eclipse Of The Heart - Bonnie Tyler
You Don't Bring Me Flowers - Barbra Streisand w/ Neil Diamond
You Are So Beautiful - Joe Cocker
You Are The Sunshine Of My Life - Stevie Wonder
Always On My Mind - Willie Nelson
Peace

Fall CLASSES FOR MEN ATTHE
ADULT LEARNING CENTERREGISTRATION MUST BE COMPLETED
BY Monday, October 2 , 2006NOTE: DUE TO THE COMPLEXITY AND DIFFICULTY LEVEL
OF THEIR CONTENTS, CLASS SIZES WILL BE LIMITED TO 8 PARTICIPANTS MAXIMUM.
Class 1
How To Fill Up The Ice Cube Trays --- Step by Step, with Slide Presentation.
Meets 4 weeks, Monday and Wednesday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM .
Class 2
The Toilet Paper Roll --- Does It Change Itself?
Round Table Discussion.M eets 2 weeks, Saturday 12:00 for 2 hours.
Class 3
Is It Possible To Urinate Using The Technique Of Lifting The Seat and Avoiding The Floor, Walls and Nearby Bathtub? --- Group Practice.Meets 4 weeks, Saturday 10:00 PM for 2 hours.
Class 4
Fundamental Differences Between The Laundry Hamper and The Floor ---
Pictures and Explanatory Graphics.Meets Saturdays at 2:00 PM for 3 weeks.
Class 5
After Dinner Dishes --- Can They Levitate and Fly Into The Kitchen Sink?
Examples on Video.
Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning
at 7:00 PM
Class 6
Loss Of Identity --- Losing The Remote To Your Significant Other.
Help Line Support and Support Groups.Meets 4 Weeks, Friday and Sunday 7:00 PM
Class 7
Learning How To Find Things --- Starting With Looking In The Right Places And Not Turning The House Upside Down While Screaming.
Open Forum .
Monday at 8:00 PM, 2 hours.
Class 8
Health Watch --- Bringing Her Flowers Is Not Harmful To Your Health.
Graphics and Audio Tapes.
Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.
Class 9
Real Men Ask For Directions When Lost --- Real Life Testimonials.
Tuesdays at 6:00 PM Location to be determined.
Class 10
Is It Genetically Impossible To Sit Quietly While She Parallel Parks?
Driving Simulations.
4 weeks, Saturdays noon , 2 hours.
Class 11
Learning to Live --- Basic Differences Between Mother and Wife.
Online Classes and role-playing .Tuesdays at 7:00 PM, location to be determined
Class 12
How to be the Ideal Shopping Companion
Relaxation Exercises, Meditation and Breathing Techniques.
Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM .
Class 13
How to Fight Cerebral Atrophy --- Remembering Birthdays, Anniversaries and Other Important Dates and Calling When You're Going To Be Late.
Cerebral Shock Therapy Sessions and Full Lobotomies Offered.
Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.
Class 14
The Stove/Oven --- What It Is and How It Is Used.
Live Demonstration.Tuesdays at 6:00 PM, location to be determined.
Upon completion of any of the above courses, diplomas will be issued to the survivors.

I was born in Denmark and was
raised Christian in Jordan all my life (Learn More), my father was a pastor of 4 churches, my mother is one of the strongest Christian woman leaders in the Jordanian society. I was a youth leader in the church and I was a supervisor in the church community for the Christian theology and I know a lot about it but never narrowed my mind and put that dark sheet on my eyes, I was seeking because I never found my peace till I became a Muslim. And it took me a long process to
be convinced in Islam.
It started since I was a kid, I hated Islam, when
I was in the 10th grade, I saw one day a girl is praying, I kicked her and pushed her while she was kneeling down (sajedah), I have fought with girls in high school and I wanted to show them how educated I am, so I used to bring the
Bible with me all the time and read in loud, or write a verse on the board as (today’s tip). When it’s Ramadan, I used to eat in front of the girls while fasting (I ask Allah to forgive me and give me Mercy), I was a serious trouble maker.
In the eleventh grade, I remember one day we had an Islamic class in Zarqa High School, and I wanted to stay and listen to the teacher, they said that the Bible is Muharraf (interpreted and altered) I started to become mad and I explained to them that the Bible has been written as 4 different books in the
same time different places from 4 different people (Mathew, Mark, Luke and John), so one of the girls said: “So you’re saying that the evil spirit have written the books!” I got really angry and I left the class and I didn’t want to talk to any of the girls.
The girls in the class were wondering about me and they wanted to know what’s my deal, so they came and started asking me questions about my religion and I was answering them and showing them in the Bible and give them proofs to convince them about Christianity, until one day, the teacher called me and asked me to stop talking about my religion because it’s illegal, I told her that I have nothing to do with it, she said: “I have a recorded tape of your voice talking to the girls about it” that made me really mad, and I started to have not only hate but anger and I wanted to bring all the Muslims to Christianity, I even invited my Muslim friends to the church many times to convert them to Christianity.
I graduated and went to study Chemistry in Muta University in Jordan, and I knew that this university is one of the strongest Islamic Movements in the whole Kingdom. I finished one year
there and then registered for Islamic class as a requirement and I was so ready for it. I remember it was in a theatre contains 150 student, I am the only one Christian there proud of myself. Every time the Professor (Dr. Mohammad Rawashdeh) say something, I had to raise my hand and argue with him, I remember we talked about Hell and Heaven, we talking about the Women’s right, we talking about the Bible itself, and I used to bring the Bible all the time and get proofs for him to contradict his words. Until one day he called me to his office
and he said that I have great knowledge and by now I supposed to be convinced about Islam, I told him: “listen Professor, I was born Christian, my father Is a pastor of 4 churches, my mom is a very important person in the Christian community, I was raised Christian, and I have a well knowledge about Christianity, so there is no way on earth can change me to Islam. No way!” he sighed and said: “Allah Yehdeeki” (May Allah show you the right path)
After a while, I started to attack my Professor by judging on Islam and telling him how wrong he is and how wrong the Islam is. The students started to be curious about what I am saying and they were amazed of my braveness, so they started to come in private after classes and asking me about my religion, I used to sit down in a public place with them and argue about religious issues, until one day, my Professor called me back to his office. He said that I am doing fetnah (Division within Islam) in the university because I am talking to people about my religion and trying to convert them. I told him what do you mean?? He said: “Next semester, you will not be here anymore” I didn’t say anything and I just left, until I came next semester to register for my classes, and they told me that I am out of the college and I am not even exist in the system, I became
really mad and I left the university because I knew that time, I am very close to go to the USA, and have a better opportunity than Jordan.
Yes, I immigrated to TX, USA year 2002, trying to start from the scratch, I was going to the Arabic Dallas Baptist Church, and my uncle is the pastor of this church. I didn’t like living there so my family contacted a certain Christian family for me to go to Arizona and try to build myself, but once I couldn’t find a
financial support, the family asked me to go back to Texas and stay with my family. So I went back home and my parents with my little brothers went back to Jordan in order for my father to continue his ministry in the churches, but I stayed with my brother and my sister and I am the oldest. I found a job and I
started to study in the college. I kept myself going to the church, doing some activities, even sending some programs to the church in Jordan and help them out with the Bible studies for the Sunday Schools.
In December 2003 my father died – diagnosed by the Cancer, but that didn’t stop me from keeping myself going in life.
I tell you that I came to USA to make some Christian ministries .. and my aim was to reach the Arab Muslim and bring them to Christianity since the USA is a free country and you have the right of thoughts and talk
So .. I met some friends in the college and we started
to talk about Islam .. And I know the Bible from the beginning to the end, I was arguing hard trying to convince them about Christianity.
Until they brought me the guy Mostafa Belhour - who is my husband now - to debate .. And it started to be like a race with him since he has great knowledge about Quran and
Sunnah .. And I didn't like him at all. Most of the time, we were adding gas to the fire and sometimes we reach to dead ends, he was a real good speaker .. And I am the stubborn. I finally got tired and exhausted.Anyway .. My mom was coming on Sep 2005 and I thought it's a good excuse to get away from the debate because it started to make me so agitated ..
For me it would be really insulting if I loose the debate .. So I told my friends .. I need to go!!
but that guy called me by my name and said: "I need a proof" I asked: what are you talking about? He said: "search the whole Bible .. You will never find one verse that Jesus says about himself that he's God .. He never said(I am God)" ..
I found that it's my opportunity to tell him about Christianity and bring him to Jesus (who I believed that he's the savior and the son of God)
I asked with a sarcastic method: "what are you talking about.. Of course there is tens of verses say that Jesus is God" .. He said: "show me the proof" I went home and that question stuck in my mind.
I opened the Bible and started to search, then I went to some internet resources, then to some books.
Then I asked my mom and I went with her through a discussion .. she said: "well there is no specific verse laterally saying that Jesus said about himself he's God, but he said; (whoever saw me saw the father)" I said: "but the father and the son are not the same" she said: "but you know that they have the same level in power as they are a part of the Trinity (The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit)"
So the 1st one has no proof .. Now let's go to the second one:
Jesus is the son!
I started to search more .. I found that it's written
in the Gospel - in the Bible - called "John" this Equation: "in the beginning, the word was with God ..." ok?? So the word is Jesus who is created from the beginning and he was WITH God ..
Then the same verse says: "and the word was God" John 1:1 so hold on!!! God = (equals) Jesus and God WITH Jesus
ohuh .. Wrong mathematical statement .. How the heck would Jesus be God and with God at the same time? This is not something can make any kind of sense
So I left that verse for a minute and went to another one .. To the 1st letter of john chapter 5 and verse 7 says: " 7For there are three that bear record (witness) in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three ARE ONE. " I said yeay .. Here is the proof, The Father=The Son=The Holy
Ghost (Spirit)
Then the next verse 8 says: " 8And there are three that
bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree IN ONE." The Spirit (Holy Spirit), The Water (The Father) and the Blood
(The Son). How would it be 3=1 and 3IN1 at the same time .. It’s just completely different meaning.3=1 means they are all in the same level, the same
power, the same content (i.e. The water has 3 different mentalities liquid, solid and gas) and 3in1 is like 3 relative people carry the same family name but they are completely different people with different mentalities and
personalities.
In addition, if I believe that God is 3, then why would I
have one creation? For example if I get 3 artists to draw a tree for me, each one will have his own style and way of drawing that tree according to his way of thinking, and if the 3 in one God are creating the creature, then each one of
them will create it in a different way, even if they have the same aim, but they would create it in their own way!
Anywho! I said there are some conflicts in this Bible, where did I get this book from?? I know that Jesus
called himself the son of God because he's Jewish and it's not something new that the Jewish call themselves the "children of God" and they are humans
Jesus was sitting by himself and pray! Who was he praying for? For himself? He was calling God, and the scripture of the Bible show that in different places, for example: “ 25At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent” Mathew 11:25 “39And going a little farther, He threw Himself upon the ground on His face and prayed saying, My Father, if it is
possible, let this cup pass away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will [not what I desire], but as You will and desire.” Mathew 26:39 “42Again a second time He went away and prayed, My Father, if this cannot pass by unless I drink it,
Your will be done.” Mathew 26:42 “23And after He had dismissed the multitudes, He went up into the hills by Himself to pray. When it was evening, He was still there alone.” Mathew 14:23 “44So, leaving them again, He went away and prayed for the third time, using the same words.” Mathew 26:44 “35And in the morning, long before daylight, He got up and went out to a deserted place, and there He
prayed” Mark 1:35 “46And after He had taken leave of them, He went off into the hills to pray.” Mark 6:46 “21Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized, and [while He was still] praying, the [visible]
heaven was opened” Luke 3:21 “16But He Himself withdrew [in retirement] to the wilderness (desert) and prayed.” Luke 5:16 “12Now in those days it occurred that He went up into a mountain to pray, and spent the whole night in prayer to God.”
Luke 6:12
In additional I had that memory flashed in my mind when I was
studying the Christian theology .. A British professor came to our college and he was teaching us the history of the Bible script .. And I remember he said exactly: "well ... I went to the museum in England to see the Bible manuscripts
and all what I saw torn, burned lost papers spread allover the place" so what is that in my hand?
And where all those words came from????
If I am going to worship A PERFECT GOD who is the complete of everything how would I believe in imperfect book???
This is not right!!!
I started to think .. If one day lost all the holy books in the world .. and we asked people to get a new exact book. There is no body can get an exact book of the Bible
because we have too many versions, and they are still discovering new different scripts till now .. But I can find may be a million Muslim can bring me an identical Quran who is kept from the beginning .. Isn’t that amazing!!
Then I went through the theory of crucifying Jesus on the cross .. Did he really die??
I started to think of the Gospels that we have between
our hands is it the real Bible?? The ones who wrote the Bibles are Jewish people who followed Jesus Christ and wrote a biography about him .. They saw him dying
on the cross .. Is it necessary to be the same person on the cross??
The verse in Quran says: "shobbeha behi" “157. That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah.";- But they killed him
not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:- 158. Nay, Allah
raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise” Quran 4:157-158
so the people who saw Jesus is someone who looks exactly like Jesus ..
So what we have in our hands is only a biography of Jesus 75% or more of it is altered
And now I got the result in my hands: Jesus is not God,
not even the Son of God .. I got scared and I started to panic,
All those years ... 24 years in my life that I was studying is only a theory 24 years worshipping the wrong God
24 years went as a lie!!!
I wanted to kill myself and I felt that the ground that I am standing on is just shaking and I felt so scared
I wanted to go back from the
beginning and start my search all over again to prove the opposite .. I went so quiet .. Don’t know what next!! I am destroying my life ..
I started to think .. I believe in Jesus now that he's only a human and he's a prophet from God and I believe in all the prophets .. I have one problem with Mohammad (Peace
be upon Him)
I never exposed about his life and all what I know is
things that the Christian planted in my mind .. But how the people praise him all the time as the greatest prophet??
I said.. How could be a problem
and the holy book Quran came from heaven through him (Peace Be Upon Him) .. He must be really special .. So it's not a problem to believe in one more prophet..
In addition that I know there is an illegal Gospel called Barnaby
that the churches don't believe in it because there is the verse were Jesus talk about the next prophet called Ahmad!!!
I left my room after great meditation and thinking about it and searching .. And called my old friends who
didn't see me for 2 months ..
I went to see them at home and I was
praying to Allah and crying: "if that's the right way, you change my life .. If it's not so let me die now in an accident before I reach my friends and take me
to heaven .. I am looking for the truth and I am calling you to take me to heaven whatever happens"
So I reached to my friends and I have tears in
my eye .. And they thought something happened .. And there were my husband (the debater) .. They were waiting a word from me to tell them what happened .. I
said:
اشهد أن لا اله الاّ الله .. واشهد أن محمد رسول الله
Ash-hadu
Anna La Elaha Illa Allah, Wa As-hadu Anna Mohammad Rasool Allah
I declare that there is no God but only One Allah, and I declare that Mohammad is the prophet of Allah (Peace be upon Him)
For 2 minutes they were quiet with
no word
They looked at me and my husband started to laugh like crazy
He said: shut up .. Don’t lie
It was October 3rd I believe
I said I am not lying and I started to cry
He said.. You said the other day that if you say the shahdatein (the Islamic declaration statement)
with no believes that won't let you be Muslim!!! Don’t be lying
I said: I am not lying .. Tomorrow is the first day of Ramadan .. You are going to teach me how to pray and make wodoo2 (The washing method) and everything
When he heard me saying that .. He hugged me and started to cry like a baby
And really I learned all that in one night .. And I bought a hijab
(vail) and my other girl friend showed me how to put it on and everything
I hide my Islam for two weeks ..
During that time I went to imam and had the shaahdah (announced my Islam) and I was learning from the Quran and
trying to make some comparison from both books and it was hard for me at the beginning to leave the Bible .. But il hamdullelah (Thanks Allah) I am over it now
I hid my Islam from my family and I was praying at night 2am or 3 so no body can see me doing anything suspicious ..
One day I was going to school and I had my backpack with me and have my Quran and hijab .. Suddenly my
hijab fell down from the bag on the stairs at home and my sis was behind me, she saw it but didn't know what is it till night when she woke up and saw me praying, so she told my family members .. And here comes the trouble
They yelled at me, insulted me, called me words and used the fraud language. They hit me to death and threatened me and I was calm, but leaved the house praying that Allah lead them to Islam.
I lived about 2 months with my girl friend .. Until my husband Mostafa and I got married il hamdulellah (Thanks to Allah) .. I lost my family but I gained a new Muslim family at the
mosque who took care of me and really helped me ..
I went through a lot of depression aftermath because of that beating .. Till now I still receive at least 25 phone calls and emails – daily - from all over the world insulting me and threatening me and all that
Other than the phone calls that I receive .. I even have debates with the biggest Christian Professors (in the Christian Theology) from Jordan and the USA on the phone .. debating about religions and trying to bring me back to Christianity.
subhan Allah (The praises are for Allah) ... I used to hold the Bible in my hand and they have the Quran .. now the table has been turned around!
However I learned a lot from this very short time .. I learned something called patience and humbling ..
and I meditate now and think of the stories of the prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon him) who was insulted and how did he take all that .. my story is nothing to him and wow .. I learn a lot..
I probably lost my sharaf (The Noble honor of the family) and honor in front of some people but I am so proud and I
have the sharaf coming from Allah .. and amazing! You can’t imagine what kind of happiness and peace that I am living in even all that insulting ..
I really changed than before .. I am a completely different person .. even my husband noticed that. I learned how to be quiet and patient with people even to the ones who insult me all the time .. I learned how to smile in the worst and
hardest times .. even if lost my jobs .. but Allah is compensating me with everything
it's all about to have the intern peace inside you .. you
really can't find peace from people around you, not even by your environment .. it has to be by your convention and by your mind .. by loving Allah and giving him your heart. If you worship Allah and follow his orders, you are certainly
going to be happy because the sins make you feel guilty and they take your peace away
I look at the people faces and see their tears, sadness; because
they are away from the Creator.. sometimes I see their hearts are dark and they can't let that candle burn in them because they are so much caught with their problems and busyness in life.
All what I know now, my aim in this life is to worship and pray for Allah and follow his orders and rules, and make good
works for His Sake.
I hope you enjoyed my story and be strength for your
soul .